Micropolis announces two next-generation disk drives for OEM market.LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 1995--Strengthening its position as a leading-edge manufacturer of SuperCapacity disk drives, Micropolis Corp. (NASDAQ/NMS:MLIS MLIS Master of Library and Information Science MLIS Multilingual Information Society MLIS Molecular Laser Isotope Separation MLIS Masters of Library and Information Studies MLIS Medical/Legal Information Services ) Monday announced the first two of its next-generation Micropolis Omega Class disk drives. The new Capricorn 9 drive provides 8.7GB formatted capacity in a 3.5-inch, half-height form factor. The new low-profile Taurus 4 drive offers 4.3GB formatted capacity in a 3.5-inch, one-inch high form factor. Both drives maximize performance with 8.5 ms average seek times and rotational speeds of 7200 rpm. ``Micropolis Omega Class drives continue the Micropolis tradition of delivering superior storage products targeted at applications requiring the highest capacity and outstanding performance, such as workstations, file servers, midrange and mainframe systems,'' said Holly Sacks, vice president of marketing at Micropolis. ``In addition, we have successfully managed the transition to technologies like MR heads and the PRML (Partial Response Maximum Likelihood) A technique used to differentiate a valid signal from noise by measuring the rate of change at various intervals of the rising waveform. data channel that enable us to achieve the necessary densities while maintaining our high level of quality and reliability.'' The new drives utilize a number of leading-edge technologies to achieve high capacity. Magneto-resistive (MR) heads allow a higher flying height than previous-generation products, while doubling the recording density. A partial response-maximum likelihood (PRML) read channel uses digital filtering to handle the high-bit densities required to achieve high capacities. Further efficiencies are obtained by removing the address, or ID, field from each sector. This ID-less format increases available drive capacity by 10 percent with no loss in data integrity or performance. Also featured is a second-generation hybrid servo system, unique to Micropolis, that offers the high performance of dedicated servo drives and robustness across a range of environmental conditions usually only available on drives with fully embedded servos. Hybrid servo has the additional benefits of field-formattable sector sizes and not requiring any thermal calibration See thermal recalibration. . Included in the drives' design is a high-performance SCSI controller with a feature-rich SCSI-2/3 command set. A state-of- the-art 297-bit ECC (1) (Error-Correcting Code) A type of memory that corrects errors on the fly. See ECC memory. (2) (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) A public key cryptography method that provides fast decryption and digital signature processing. with on-the-fly error correction ensures data integrity and maximum performance. A 512 KByte (optional 2 MByte) multisegmented cache, tagged command queuing TCQ redirects here; it is also the IATA code for the Crnl. FAP Carlos Ciriani Santa Rosa International Airport in Tacna, Peru. Tagged Command Queuing (TCQ) is a technology built into certain ATA and SCSI hard drives. with seek and latency optimization and zero-latency read/write operations add up to superior performance in a wide variety of applications. On-board XOR (eXclusive OR) A Boolean logic operation that is widely used in cryptography as well as in generating parity bits for error checking and fault tolerance. XOR compares two input bits and generates one output bit. The logic is simple. If the bits are the same, the result is 0. (also known as RAID-Ready) allows the drives to generate parity, enabling lower cost storage arrays. UltraSCSI, which offers twice the SCSI SCSI in full Small Computer System Interface Once common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as Firewire and USB. transfer rates of last-generation products, further expands drive performance when attached to UltraSCSI-compatible hosts. The drives' mean-time-between-failure (MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) The average time a component works without failure. It is the number of failures divided by the hours under observation. MTBF - Mean Time Between Failures ) rate is 1 million hours. This superior rating has been achieved through advanced design techniques and tightly controlled manufacturing processes. Data integrity is maintained via round-trip data protection. Drive data is accompanied by error-checking algorithms at all times. Compliance with the S.M.A.R.T. (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology) industry standard enables the drives to inform the host of impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. failures so that the drives may be replaced proactively, thus minimizing system downtime. Commonality between drives is a tangible benefit; it eliminates the need to do a complete qualification of each product. Commonality rises to a new level with Capricorn 9 and Taurus 4. The SCSI and servo control microcodes are identical for each drive. More than 90 percent of the HDA (Head Disk Assembly) The mechanical components of a disk drive (minus the electronics), which include the actuators, access arms, read/write heads and platters. HDA - Head Disk Assembly components are the same between the two drives, including the same heads and media. The same PCBA PCBA Printed Circuit Board Assembly PCBA Physically Challenged Bowhunters of America PCBA Polk County Builders Association (Florida) PCBA Punjab College of Business Administration (Pakistan) is used for both drives. Users may qualify one of the products, knowing that the other will be identical in functionality, reliability and performance. Capricorn 9 and Taurus 4 will ship to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and customers for evaluation in first quarter 1996. OEM pricing for Capricorn 9 is $1,600 and $1,065 for Taurus 4. Micropolis expects to begin marketing the drives under its own brand name in approximately six months. Founded in 1976, Micropolis is a leading designer and manufacturer of SuperCapacity disk drives, information storage and video systems. Its products are sold to OEMs and system integrators and through distributors and VARs. Micropolis has headquarters in Chatsworth, Calif., with sales offices throughout the world and manufacturing facilities in Singapore and Thailand. -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: Micropolis is a registered trademark of Micropolis Corp. More information on Micropolis and its products can be found at http://www.micropolis.com. Product demonstrations at Comdex '95, Nov. 13-17 at Micropolis Booth No. L217, Las Vegas Convention Center The Las Vegas Convention Center is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and is located in Clark County, Nevada. It is one of the largest Convention centers in the world. At the end of 2004, the center had 3. . CONTACT: Micropolis Corp. Peggy Garcia, 818/718-5264 peggy_garcia@micropolis.com http://www.micropolis.com or Capital Relations Tina Bradford, 805/494-0830 tbradford@caprel.com |
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